Conference Program - Peace Builders Conference Atlanta

Mohandas
Karamchand
Gandhi
(1869 –1948)
Martin Luther
King Jr.
(1929 – 1968)
Daisaku Ikeda
(1928 – )
M. Fethullah
Gulen
(1941 – )
Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics
and Nonviolent Peacebuilding: Global,
Social and Religious Movements Today
Conference Welcome
The Atlantic Institute and Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College would like to welcome you to the
Peace Builders Conference at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
During this three day event, you will get to listen to top scholars discuss the surrounding issues plaguing our world. By bringing together
scholars and practitioners, this conference aims to show how peace in
today’s turbulent world can be achieved through informal, apolitical,
educational, and grassroots mechanisms.
It is with great honor that we host you as we participate in dialogue to
further peace and understanding of the vast cultures that make up our
world. This conference includes panels, lectures, and art performances
that focus four overarching themes on nonviolent social change. Each
day will be filled with intellectual and thought-provoking topics that
contribute to building peace in our minds, homes, workspaces, educational institutions, and public life.
We thank you for joining us during this monumental venture of fostering dialogues in education, ethics and nonviolent peacebuilding.
Conference Organizing Committee
Schedule At A Glance
Wednesday April 8
African-American Hall of Fame (King Chapel 2nd Floor)
12:00pm-1:30pm
Opening Panel
Peace & Conflict Studies: Religion, Politics, and Diplomacy
3:00pm-5:00pm
2015 Peace Studies Lecture by Han Park, University of Georgia
Thursday April 9
2:30pm-4:15pm
Opening Remarks & Plenary Panel
Ideas and Legacies: Understanding Civic and Religious Leaders
7:00pm–9:00pm
Venue: Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel Crown Nave
2015 Interfaith Assembly & Gandhi King Ikeda Award Ceremony: A Call to
Nonviolent Peacebuilding
*All panels will be at the African-American Hall of Fame (King Chapel 2nd Floor), unless
otherwise stated.
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
Friday April 10
8:00am-9:00am
Registration and Refreshments
9:00am-9:15am
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:15am-11:00am: Panel I
Debates on Global Ethics, Morality, and Nonviolence: Methods and Concepts
11:15am-1:00pm: Panel II
Peace & Conflict Studies: Contemporary Social and Political Issues
1:00pm-1:40pm
Lunch
1:40pm-2:00pm
Public Muslim Friday Prayer at Chapel Stage
2:00pm-3:30pm: Panel III
Nonviolent Peacebuilding and Relief Activities: Challenges and Opportunities
3:45pm-5:30pm: Panel IV
Challenges and Opportunities in Politics, Education and Society
5:30pm-5:45pm
Closing Remarks
6:30pm-8:30pm
Dinner (Invitation only)
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PROGRAM
Wednesday April 8
African-American Hall of Fame (King Chapel 2nd Floor)
12:00pm-1:30pm
Opening Panel
Peace & Conflict Studies: Religion, Politics, and Diplomacy
Co-Chairs
Gregory O. Hall, Morehouse College
Mustafa Sahin, The Atlantic Institute
Presenters
I. John A. Tures
LaGrange College
“Whirling Diversions” in Turkey
II. Sait Yavuz
University of Houston
“Narratives of Religious Transformation in Anatolia: From Paganism to Islam “
III. Nurdin Kaparov
Osmania University, India
“How Hizmet Movement can promote #RespectfortheSacred?”
IV. Wm. Loyd Allen
Mercer University
“The Meeting of Saint and Sultan: The Symbolic Power for Peace in the
Personal Encounter between Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan Al-Kamil of
Egypt”
3:00pm-5:00pm
Han Park
Director and University Professor, The Center for the Study of Global Issues
(GLOBIS) at the University of Georgia,
“Transcending Security for Sustainable Peace.”
2015 Peace Studies Lecture presented by the Morehouse College Peace Studies
Program / Department of Political Science
*All panels will be at the African-American Hall of Fame (King Chapel 2nd Floor), unless
otherwise stated.
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
Thursday April 9
2:30pm-2:45pm
Opening Remarks
John Ford, Emory University
Soumaya Khalifa, Islamic Speakers Bureau
Joseph Bankoff, Georgia Institute of Technology
2:45pm-4:15pm
Plenary Panel
Ideas and Legacies: Understanding Civic and Religious Leaders
Chair
Scott Alexander, Catholic Theological Union
Presenters
I. Loye Ashton
Tougaloo College
“Putting Gülen’s Teachings into Practice: Understanding Hizmet as a Civil
Society Nonviolent Peacebuilding Movement”
II. Richard Penaskovic
Auburn University
“Peacebuilding in a Disordered World According to D. Ikeda & F. Gulen”
III. Victor A. Kramer
Georgia State University
“A Rule ‘for Beginners’: Benedict, Gandhi; Thomas Merton, and Martin Luther
King, Jr.”
IV. James M. Dawsey, and Adam Wells
Emory & Henry College
“Walking in the Steps of Pope John XXIII, M.L. King, Jr. and Oscar Romero”
7:00pm–9:00pm
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel Crown Nave
2015 Interfaith Assembly & Gandhi King Ikeda Award Ceremony:
A Call to Nonviolent Peacebuilding
Keynote Address
Scott Alexander
Catholic Theological Union
“Civil Rights, The Hizmet Movement, And The Liberative Power Of Education”
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PROGRAM
Friday April 10
8:00am-9:00am
Registration and Refreshments
9:00am-9:15am
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:15am-11:00am
Panel I
Debates on Global Ethics, Morality, and Nonviolence: Methods and Concepts
Chair
Mansa Bilal Mark King, Morehouse University
Presenters
I. Donal Carbaugh
University of Massachusetts
“Three Dimensions for Cultivating Non-violence in Intercultural or Interfaith
Dialogue”
II. Renat Shaykhutdinov
Florida Atlantic University
“Religion and Nonviolent/Violent Action: Toward a General Theory”
III. Abdelwahab Hechiche
University of South Florida
“A Muslim Inter-Faith Itinerary and the Categorical Imperative of Tolerance”
IV. Ori Z. Soltes
Georgetown University
“ Ethics, Morality and the Problematic of Revelation and Interpretation in
Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism”
11:15am-1:00pm
Panel II
Peace & Conflict Studies: Contemporary Social and Political Issues
Chair
Renat Shaykhutdinov, Florida Atlantic University
Presenters
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
I. Sophia Pandya
California State University, Long Beach
“Hizmet, and the Challenges of Altruism and Peacebuilding in the US”
II. A. Dilshod
East Tennessee State University
“The Nexus between Religion, Social Networking, and Collective Political
Mobilization in Central Asia and the Caucasus”
III. James Hoesterey
Emory University
“Diplomacy, Soft Power, “Moderate Islam” in Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry”
IV. Jason Tatlock
Armstrong State University
“The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, the United Nations, and Nongovernmental Organizations”
1:00pm-1:40pm
Lunch
1:40pm-2:00pm
Public Muslim Friday Prayer at Chapel Stage lead by Imam Abdullah Antepli,
Faculty at Duke Divinity School and Chief Representative of Muslim Affairs,
Duke University
2:00-3:30pm
Panel III
Nonviolent Peacebuilding and Relief Activities: Challenges and Opportunities
Chair
Kipton Jensen, Morehouse College
Presenters
I. Peter Cohen
Clemson University
“Gandhi’s Satyagraha: A Paradigm for Religious Dialogue Leading to Peace”
II. Anwar Alam
Zirve University, Turkey
“Gandhi and Gulen: Comparing their Views for Peace Building Exercises”
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PROGRAM
III. Jessica Rehman
University of California-Riverside
“Muslim Men on the Margins: Post-Genocide Cambodian Nation Building and
Khmer Masculinities”
IV. Jigmey Dorje Lama
Viswa-Bharati University, India
“Karuna (Compassion): Peacebuilding Through Compassion”
3:45pm-5:30pm
Panel IV
Challenges and Opportunities in Politics, Education and Society
Chair
Alexander Daniel Hamilton VI, Morehouse College
I. Jelani Favors
Clayton State University
“Players and Pawns: Black College Presidents as Peacemakers and Social
Agitators in the Jim Crow South”
II. Mansa Bilal Mark King
Morehouse College and Imani Michelle Scott, Savannah College of Art and
Design
“Crimes Against Humanity in the Land of the Free”
III. Robert N. Nash
Mercer University
“Roger Williams and The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution: God’s Sovereignty,
Religious Freedom and the Path to Peace”
IV. Parvez Ahmed
University of North Florida
“Pluralism and Diversity in Islam”
5:30pm-5:45pm
Closing Remarks
6:30pm-8:30pm
Dinner (Invitation only)
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
BIOS
Parvez Ahmed
Parvez Ahmed is Director of Center for Sustainable Business Practices and Associate Professor of Finance at the Coggin College of Business, University of North Florida (UNF). In
2009 he was named a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. His research work has appeared in several major finance journals. In addition, Dr. Ahmed writes editorials about Islam and the American
Muslim experience. He writes blogs for the Huffington Post. Dr. Ahmed also teaches a special
10-week course titled, “Islam-the faith, the people and their politics,” at the Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute in UNF. Currently he is a member of Jacksonville’s Human Rights Commission and serves on the boards of Museum of Science and History, and the World Affairs
Council of Jacksonville. In 2010 Folio Weekly named him “Person of the Year.” In 2014 he was
awarded the Silver Medallion Humanitarian Award by OneJax.
Anwar Alam
Anwar Alam is currently full Professor at Department of International Relations, Zirve University, Gaziantep, Turkey. Previously he served as Professor and Director at the Centre for
West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia ( JMI) and Associate Professor School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU), New Delhi. He has been awarded a
number of long term and short term fellowship including International Visitor Programme
(Islamic) Scholarship, USA, (2002), Indo-French Social Scientist Exchange Programme
Fellowship (2003, 2010) and Alexandor Von Humboldt Post Doctoral Fellowship, Germany (2004-2006). He was Visiting Professor at Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey (September
2010 –August 2011).
Among his latest publications include Arab Spring: Reflections on Political Changes in the
Arab World and its Future (ed. New century Publication, 2014), ‘Gandhi, Hind Swaraj and
Hindu- Muslim Relations’, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed,) Re-Reading Hind Swaraj (Routledge,
2013), ‘Islam and Violence’, GITAM Journal of Gandhian Studies. Vol 3. No 1, 2014.
Scott Alexander
Scott Alexander studied comparative religion as an undergraduate at Harvard. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, Scott went on to Columbia University in New York
where he earned the M.A. and Ph.D. in the history of religions, with a concentration in Islamic studies. From 1986 to 1990, Scott taught courses on Islam and the history of religions at
Columbia, Fordham, and Princeton University, and in 1991 he took a position on the religious
studies faculty of Indiana University in Bloomington where he taught as an assistant professor
of Islamic studies from 1993 to 2000.
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Scott is the author of a number of articles on Islamic history and religion and Christian-Muslim Relations published in scholarly journals, edited collections, and encyclopedias such as
the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East (Macmillan, 1996) and the Encyclopedia of
the Qur’an (E.J. Brill, 2001-2005). He has also authored many online blog posts and op-ed
essays addressing issues of Islamophobia, and has been featured in a number of videos such as
the Knowing and Loving Our Neighbors of Other Faiths series (Work of the People, 2010).
His most recent scholarly research focuses on the role of triumphalism in Christian-Muslim
Relations and deals with the inherent contradiction between religious claims to universal truth
and the religiously motivated desire to impose this truth on others as a means of political and
cultural domination.
Scott lives in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago where he is a member of the parish
family of the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle. He is the proud father of Myles “Chitriman”
Alexander, a rising professional triathlete, and is married to Karen Lewis Alexander, currently
vice president for development at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.
Wm. Loyd Allen
Dr. Allen received his B.S (1974) with a double-major in psychology and sociology from the
University of Montevallo in Alabama. His training for Christian ministry took place at the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was awarded the
M.Div. (1978) and Ph.D. (1984). During his years as a student, he served part-time as an aide
on a psychiatric ward, a chaplain in the emergency room of an urban hospital and the admitting ward of a state mental hospital, the ecumenical campus minister at a Roman Catholic
college, and had a seven-year pastorate at a rural church. After graduation, Dr. Allen took a
job as religion professor and campus minister at Brewton-Parker College in South Georgia
for five years before moving back to Louisville for three years on the church history faculty of
Southern Seminary. In 1992, Mississippi College called him to become the head of its Christianity department. He left Mississippi after three years to become professor of church history
and spiritual formation on the founding faculty of the McAfee School of Theology where he
currently holds the Sylvan Hills Chair of Baptist Heritage.
Abdullah Antepli
Imam Antepli completed his basic training and education in his native Turkey. From 19962003 he worked on a variety of faith-based humanitarian and relief projects in Myanmar
(Burma) and Malaysia with the Association of Social and Economic Solidarity with Pacific
Countries. He is the founder and executive board member of the Association of College Muslim Chaplains (ACMC) and a board member of the Association for College and University
Religious Affairs (ACURA). From 2003 to 2005 he served as the first Muslim chaplain at
Wesleyan University. He then moved to Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, where he was
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
the associate director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program & Interfaith Relations, as well as an
adjunct faculty member.
He previously served as Duke University first Muslim chaplain from July 2008 to 2014. In his
current work at Duke, Antepli engages students, faculty, and staff across and beyond campus
through seminars, panels, and other avenues to provide a Muslim voice and perspective to the
discussions of faith, spirituality, social justice, and more. Imam Antepli also serves as a faculty
member in the Duke Divinity School and at DISC (Duke Islamic Studies Center), teaching
a variety of courses on Islam and Muslim cultures.
Loye Ashton
The Rev. Dr. Loye Ashton is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Tougaloo College in
Jackson, Mississippi. He is the Director of the Center for International Studies and Global
Change at Tougaloo and a member of the Honors Program Faculty as well as a biomedical
research ethicist in the Educational Training Program of the Jackson Heart Study. Tenured
since 2011, he is currently serving a second year as President of the Faculty Senate. He received
a Bachelor of Arts degree in Directed Interdisciplinary Studies from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, and a Masters of Theological Studies degree from the Boston University School of Theology in Boston, Massachusetts. He earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies
(Comparative and Systematic Theology) from Boston University where his dissertation, titled
“An Exploration of the Idea of Rhythm in Metaphysics and Christian Theology,” examined
the principle of rhythmicity in the history of Western metaphysics as a means to reformulate
Christian theology in relation to contemporary science and inter-religious dialogue. From
2003 to 2006 he was Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Millsaps College in
Jackson, Mississippi.
Alp Aslandogan
Dr. Y. Alp Aslandogan is the President of the Alliance for Shared Values. Prior to his current
position, Dr. Aslandogan served as the board president of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog
in Houston, Texas. In that role, he oversaw the organization of academic as well as grassroots
activities of the Institute around topics such as shared values of humanity, social cognition and
conflicts, the art of living together, foundations and methodology of interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and the role of faithful citizens in democracy. Dr. Aslandogan co-edited a book
entitled “Muslim Citizens of the Globalized World: Contributions of the Gulen Movement,”
published by the Institute of Interfaith Dialog. He is also the co-author of an upcoming book
on the history of democracy in Turkey. Dr. Aslandogan is an author and an editor of the Fountain magazine, and a board member of the Journal of Interreligious Dialogue.
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Dr. Aslandogan earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at
Chicago and served as a faculty member at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Prairie
View A&M University. He currently teaches at Montclair State University in Montclair, New
Jersey.
Joseph Bankoff
Joe Bankoff was appointed chair of The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in spring
2012 following six years as president & CEO of The Woodruff Arts Center and 32 years as a
senior partner at the Atlanta-based law firm of King & Spalding.
Mr. Bankoff ’s association with Georgia Tech spans more than a decade and has been primarily
focused on his work as the head of the law firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice
group. In 1998 he worked with his, then, law partner, Sam Nunn, in the creation of the first
of the Nunn Policy Forums at Georgia Tech. He was a member of the advisory board of the
College of Computing and served as its vice chair for several years. He has served as a board
member of the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology (GCATT).
At the request of Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson, he participated in Georgia
Tech’s 2010 strategic planning process. He currently serves as the chair of the nominating
committee for the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage.
Donal Carbaugh
Donal Carbaugh is Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
He is recipient of the Samuel F. Conti Faculty Research Fellow which is the highest award
for research at his University; he is also the recipient of teaching awards including as a finalist for the university’s campus-wide outstanding teaching award. From 2005-2010, he was a
member of the Research Advisory Group for the Security Needs Assessment Project of the
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva. He is author of Cultures in
Conversation which was awarded the Outstanding Book of the Year in International and Intercultural Communication by the National Communication Association.
Lawrence Edward Carter Sr.
Chapel Dean and religion professor Lawrence Carter received his B.A. degree from Virginia
University of Lynchburg and his M. Div., S.T.M., and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University.
After his graduation he served as Baptist Counselor, Residential Counselor, and Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Afro American Cultural Center, and as Associate Dean
of Daniel L. Marsh Chapel at Boston University. He went on to teach at Harvard University
Divinity School and serve as coordinator of African American studies at Simmons College.
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
Carter eventually became a tenured professor at Morehouse College, a college that Martin
Luther King Jr. had tried to recruit him for years earlier. In 1979, Carter became the first
Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel and college curator. In the same year,
Carter also founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel Assistants Pre-seminarians Program
at Morehouse.
Carter has published several books, including Walking Integrity: Benjamin Elijah Mays,
Mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. and Global Ethical Options, in the Tradition of Mahatma
Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Daisaku Ikeda.
Peter Alan Cohen
Peter Cohen earned his Ph.D. in Religion/Humanities and M.A. in Biblical Studies from
Florida State University, B.A. in Religion and Philosophy from Springfield College (Massachusetts) and studied Rabbinics at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. He has taught
at Appalachian State University, Tallahassee Community College, Florida A&M University,
Florida State University and is currently a senior lecturer in Religious Studies at Clemson
University. He also serves as an advisory board member in South Carolina for the Atlantic
Institute. Peter is a guest speaker in many of the Clemson area churches and civic organizations, while regularly teaching a course on an aspect of religion for Clemson’s Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute (OLLI). Dr. Cohen’s research focuses on the area of Folk Religion and the
many similarities shared by religious traditions in the world, rather than their far fewer differences he sees, too often emphasized by the media and elsewhere.
James M. Dawsey
James M. Dawsey is the Wolfe Chair and a professor of Religious Studies at Emory & Henry College, Virginia. He arrived in southwest Virginia from Auburn University in Alabama
where he served as a chaired professor in the Religion Department. Dawsey loves teaching.
His main scholarly interests are in the areas of New Testament studies, especially the Gospels;
the formation of Christian societies; and Christian missionary activities in South America.
He enjoys writing fiction and believes that stories relay truths not easily encompassed by
prose. “We live our lives by stories,” Dawsey claims. “It’s no secret why Jesus and other great
religious leaders were storytellers.” Dawsey is the author of several works of theology, history,
and literature including Peter’s Last Sermon: Identity and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark
(Mercer University Press); The Lukan Voice: Confusion and Irony in the Gospel of Luke
(Mercer University Press); From Wasteland to Promised Land: Liberation Theology for a
Post-Marxist World (Shepheard-Walwyn and Orbis Books); The Confederados: Old South
Immigrants in Brazil (The University of Alabama Press); A Scholar’s Guide to Academic
Journals in Religion (ATLA Bibliographic Series, volume 23, Scarecrow Press), Masters and
Savages (Mercer University Press); and more than seventy other monographs and articles in
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English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Dawsey holds a B.S. Degree from Florida Southern College
and the M.Div. and Ph.D. `Degrees from Emory University. He is an ordained minister in
the South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Dawsey has been
married to Dixie Marie since 1971.
A. Dilshod
Assistant Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the International Studies minor,
he earned his B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Maine and his M.A. and
Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Arizona. His research and teaching specializations include comparative and international politics, research methods, democratization,
civil society, and political Islam. Dr. Dilshod’s research focuses on the politics of the Islamic
world, with an emphasis on the Middle East politics, which has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Being fluent in four languages, he was awarded multiple research grants and
conducted field studies in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Jelani M. Favors
Dr. Jelani M. Favors currently serves as Assistant Professor of History at Clayton State University. He has received major fellowships in support of his research that includes an appointment as a Humanities Writ Large Fellow at Duke University and an HBCU Fellow at the
John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute. He recently co-taught a course entitled, “Citizenship and Freedom: The Civil Rights Era,” alongside Pulitzer Prize winning historian Taylor
Branch at the University of Baltimore. He has published essays on student activism in Robert
Cohen and David Snyder’s, Rebellion in Black and White: Southern Student Activism in the
1960s ( Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) and in Ted Ownby’s, The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi (University Press of Mississippi, 2013). Dr. Favors’s has been invited to
share his research on student activism at symposiums and academic conferences around the
country. His forthcoming manuscript is entitled, Shelter in a Time of Storm: Black Colleges
and the Long History of Student Activism.
John L. Ford
John retired from Emory as Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life in September
2012. In that role, he and his staff were responsible for the organization, delivery, and finances
of the programs and services in Athletics and Recreation, Barkley Forum, Emory Bookstore,
the Career Center, the Student Health and Counseling Services, the Dobbs University Center,
Emory Campus Dining, the Office of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Life, the Office
of Multicultural Programs and Services, Residence Life and Housing, the Office of Sorority
and Fraternity Life, Student Conduct, Student Leadership and Service, Student Media, and
Campus Life Technical Services.
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
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Prior to coming to Emory, John was the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students
and Professor of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University from 1992 to 2000,
where his teaching and research interests focused on health care policy. He is the author,
coauthor, or editor on eighteen publications. He has made 55 presentations at conferences in
the U. S. and abroad. Born in Chicago, John received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and
psychology from Boston University, a masters in social work, masters of public health, and
doctorate from the University of Michigan.
He is a member of several national professional organizations, a Director of the Education
Realty Trust Inc., a Regent of the University of the South, and an Advisory Board member of
the Atlantic Institute.
Gregory O. Hall
Dr. Hall completed his Ph.D. and Masters in Political Science, with a concentration on International Relations from Howard University. His doctoral dissertation focused on the relationship between foreign policy and domestic reform in socialist Yugoslavia. He received Bachelor
degrees in German and Political Science in 1982 from Northwestern University.
Dr. Hall is currently the Chair of Morehouse College Political Science Department, a position
he has held since 2006. In addition, he serves as Director of the International Studies Program, and Co-Director of the Asian and Middle East Studies (AMES) Program. In addition,
Dr. Hall is a faculty advisor to the Model United Nations team. His main areas of teaching and research are international relations and security, foreign policy, international political
economy, Eurasian affairs, and, research methodology.
Prior to joining Morehouse, Dr. Hall held appointments at several institutions, including the
University of Central Florida, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and, Izmir University of Economics (Turkey). He was a 1997 Fulbright Fellow in Kazan, Russia.
Abdelwahab Hiba Hechiche
Professor Abdelwahab Hiba Hechiche is a faculty member Government and International
Affairs at University of South Florida. His post-graduate degrees are from the Sorbonne and
the Institute of Advanced International Relations of the Faculty of Law Paris-Pantheon. He
was an Intern at the UN, and a Fulbright Scholar from the University of Paris to the US.
The focus of his teaching and research is on the Palestine Question, Interfaith Dialogue, and
political violence. Professor Hechiche was an International Fellow and NEH Fellow at Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He was a US Fulbright Scholar to the University of
Algiers in. He also held a Dean Rusk fellowship at the Southern Institute of International
Studies in Atlanta, GSA. As a Laureate of the Paris-Based Fondation Bleustein-Blanchet
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pour la Vocation, Professor Hechiche remains very involved in Inter-Faith Dialogue for Peace
between and beyond the monotheistic faiths.
James B. Hoesterey
Dr. Hoesterey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Emory University.
Jim Hoesterey received his BA from Marquette University, his MA from University of South
Carolina, and his PhD in Cultural Anthropology from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Prior to joining Emory, he was the Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University,
the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Islamic Studies at Lake Forest College, and the
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) New Faculty Fellow at University of Michigan. His research and teaching interests include: Islam; popular culture; new media; moral
subjectivity; religious biography; and religious authority. His current book project, based on
two years of ethnographic research in Indonesia, chronicles the rise and fall of popular television preacher K.H. Abdullah Gymnastiar (Sufis and Self-help Gurus: The Cultural Politics
of Public Piety).
Hoesterey is currently chair of the Indonesia and East Timor Studies Committee (IETSC)
at the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and serves on the board of the Commission on
Visual Anthropology (CVA). He has also worked on several documentary films broadcast
worldwide on Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Travel Channel, and the BBC.
Kipton E. Jensen
Kipton E. Jensen is an assistant professor of philosophy at Morehouse College. Before joining
the faculty at Morehouse, Jensen taught philosophy and religion at the University of Botswana
(2005-2009). While in Botswana, Jensen studied the role of traditional leaders and religious
communities in public health, especially HIV; in 2012, Jensen published Parallel Discourses:
Religious Identity and HIV Prevention in Botswana. Jensen has also published a book on
Hegel (2011) and numerous essays on the philosophy of religion, pacifism, pragmatism, personal identity, and African communalism; his present research focuses on the philosophical
dimension of Howard Thurman (’23). Jensen received his PhD from Marquette University in
1996; his BA, in Classical Languages, is from the University of Nebraska. Dr. Jensen received
a Fulbright teaching fellowship at Martin Luther Universität in 1999; he was subsequently
a visiting scholar at Harvard University. At Morehouse, Dr. Jensen has taught courses on the
history of philosophy, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of religion, and – under the
auspices of the Peace Studies Program – African American philosophies of nonviolence.
Nurdin Kaparov
Nurdin Kaparov done schooling at Kyrgyz-Turkish High School in Jalal-City city, Kyrgyz-
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
stan. He joined undergraduate programme at International Ataturk Alatoo University and
later completed undergraduate computer science course in Bangalore University under Indian
Council for Cultural Relations scholarship scheme. He joined MBA (Master of Business
Administration) programme in 2007 at Osmania University in Hyderabad city, India. After
completion of master degree he has joined and currently pursuing PhD Programme under
Faculty of Management of Osmania University.
Nurdin Kaparov is partaking in Indialogue Foundation for past nine years. He served as Public
Relations Officer in Indialogue Hyderabad Office from 2007 and later took charge as Director
Hyderabad Office. In 2013 he was deputed to New Delhi and to serve as Director Delhi Office at Indialogue Foundation. The organization is an action-oriented international dialogue
and peace organization, was founded in 2005 in New Delhi, through imagination and fortune
of a group of Turkish and Indian people. Indialogue Foundation envisions eradicating polarization, animosity and prejudice among communities and groups through its academic, social,
interfaith and cultural events, programs and projects. Indialogue Foundation in its nine years
tenure in India with five offices in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore
has organized number of notable interfaith forums, cultural events, academic conferences,
contests, study trips, etc. Some of the noteworthy endeavors of Indialogue Delhi Office are
National Seminar on “Multiculturalism” in 2013 and Gandhi Jayanti Seminar on “Embracing
Other” in 2014.
Soumaya Khalifa
Soumaya Khalifa is the President and Founder of Khalifa Consulting and the Executive Director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau (ISB) in Atlanta, Georgia. Soumaya was born in Egypt
and grew up in Texas. Throughout her life Soumaya has been “literate” in both the American
and Arab cultures. Soumaya holds a BS in Chemistry and an MBA in Human Resources. She
has over 15 years of experience with Fortune 100 companies in the areas of Training, Diversity
and Human Resources.
Soumaya has been training Corporate, Law Enforcement, Health Care Providers, Educators
and Media on increasing the understanding of the culture of the Arab World for over 8 years.
Some of Soumaya’s clients include U.S. Homeland Security, Georgia State University, Emory
University, US Department of Justice and the FBI.
Mansa Bilal Mark King
Dr. Mansa Bilal Mark King is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He holds a B.S. in psychology from Howard University
and an M.A. and Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University. He minored in mathematics as
an undergraduate, and his graduate studies focused on race and ethnic inequality in education
19
and families. He teaches courses on masculinity, families, and race/ethnicity. He also teaches
an Africana Families course for the Morehouse Pan-African Global Experience (MPAGE),
a study abroad program in Ghana. He plans to teach courses on the sociology of religion,
social research methods, and criminology soon. Dr. King’s research has covered father figures
in Black and Hispanic America, interreligious Akan families in Ghana, and the cultural considerations in a peace and reconciliation process between Black and White Americans. He is
currently finishing a study on race and marital behavior among American Muslims. He is also
co-principal investigator on the After Malcolm Digital Archive research team, and starting a
study on African American Muslims’ use of private and overseas schooling in their childrearing strategies. He lives with his wife and 2-year-old daughter near Decatur, GA.
Victor A. Kramer
Victor A. Kramer, Emeritus Professor of American Literature at Georgia State University,
has taught at Marquette, Emory, and Baylor Universities, and for Spring Hill College Programs, in Atlanta. He was twice a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Germany, and has lectured
in England, Brazil and India. He has written extensively about Southern writers including
James Agee and Catholic writers such as Merton, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy. He
is the founding editor of THE MERTON ANNUAL; and editor of Vol. 4 of The Complete
Journals of Thomas Merton. He gives retreats at monasteries, as well as days of reflection and
lectures. In November 2014, he delivered the Spring Hill “Christus” Lecture in Mobile, Alabama about contemporary Catholic writers. He taught a course for the Columbia Theological
Seminary in Decatur, Georgia in January 2015 entitled “Reading Merton’s Journals as LECTIO DIVINA.” He is a Certified Spiritual Director who works with individuals and groups.
Robert N. Nash, Jr.
Robert N. Nash, Jr. serves as the Arnall-Mann-Thomasson Professor of Missions and World
Religions and Associate Dean for the Doctor Ministry Program at McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Church History (1989) and his
M.Div. degree (1985) from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition, he completed both his M.A. (History) and B.A. degrees at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia. Prior to coming to McAfee, Dr. Nash
served as Global Missions Coordinator at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (2006-2012)
and as a professor in the religion departments at both Shorter College in Rome, Georgia
(1994-2006) and at Judson College in Marion, Alabama (1992-1994). He also served as Dean
of the School of Religion and International Studies at Shorter College for several years.
He has served as pastor and as interim pastor of a number of congregations in Kentucky,
Alabama and Georgia and as a frequent lecturer on college and university campuses and at
conferences across the nation that focus on ministry and mission in the twenty-first century.
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
Njabulo S. Ndebele
Njabulo Ndebele is the past vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, where he served
two terms. He has a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Cambridge
and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. He was a
previous Ford Foundation scholar-in-residence, vice-chancellor and principal of the University of the North and vice-rector of the University of the Western Cape. He holds honorary
doctorates from universities in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Japan, South Africa and
the United States of America. He is currently chairman of The Mandela Rhodes Foundation,
the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the MTN (SA) Foundation. He is also the president
of the UBLS Association. His novel, The Cry of Winnie Mandela, was published to critical
acclaim in 2003 (a revised edition was published in 2013). As a public figure, he is known for
his incisive insights on a range of public issues in South Africa.
Sophia Pandya
Sophia Pandya is currently an associate professor at California State University at Long
Beach, in the Department of Religious Studies. She received her BA from UC Berkeley in
Near Eastern Studies/Arabic, and her MA and PhD from UC Santa Barbara in Religious
Studies. A Fulbright scholar, she specializes in women and Islam, and more broadly in contemporary movements within Islam. Dr. Pandya has authored a book (2012), Muslim Women
and Islamic Resurgence: Religion, Education, and Identity Politics in Bahrain, on Bahraini
women and the ways in which globalization and modern education impacted their religious
activities. Having carried out research in Turkey on several occasions, she is also the co-editor
of a second published volume (2012), The Gülen Hizmet Movement and its Transnational
Activities: Case Studies on Charitable Activism. She is now finishing a manuscript on the
Hizmet movement, alterity, and the challenges of altruism. Dr. Pandya traveled to Ethiopia
three times as a fellow of the American Institute for Yemeni Studies, to study Yemenis living
in diaspora in Ethiopia. As a result, she recently published “Yemenis and Muwalladin in Addis
Ababa: Blood Purity and the Opportunities of Hybridity.” Her interests have also included
religious change in Yemen among both the younger and older generations of women, and
the ways in which they negotiate conflicting religious discourses. One of her publications,
“Religious Change among Yemeni Women: The New Popularity of ‘Amr Khaled,” looks at
younger, educated Yemeni women and their preference of an Egyptian televangelist over their
mothers’ religious practices. Dr. Pandya is frequently invited to speak at the local, national, and
international level.
Richard Penaskovic
Richard Penaskovic is Emeritus Professor at Auburn University where he was Professor of
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Religious Studies for the past thirty years. He has written several books and published over
100 articles, 25 in peer-reviewed journals such as Theological Studies, Heythrop Journal
(London), Louvain Studies (Belgium), The New Blackfriars Journal (Great Britain), Scholarly
Publishing (Toronto), Augustinian Studies, and Horizons. His book, Critical Thinking and
the Academic Study of Religion is available from Duke University Press. He feels most at
home in Augustine Studies, Newman Studies, ecumenism, and interreligious dialogue. He
presently serves as Associate Editor of the journal, Philosophy & Theology: Marquette University Journal in which capacity he edits the Karl Rahner Papers.
Penaskovic has made over 100 presentations in the U.S. and abroad to the London School of
Economics, Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Free University of Amsterdam, the University of Toronto, the University of Salzburg, the Assisi 2012 Conference, the Oxford 2014
Conference, Syracuse University, Providence College, Louisiana State University, Kennesaw
State University, Spring Hill College, the University of Dayton, Villanova University, and the
University of Notre Dame.
He has been inducted into several honor societies such as Delta Epsilon Sigma National
Scholastic Honor Society, Golden Key International Honor Society, the Mortar Board National Honor Society, Phi Kappa Phi Academic Honor Society, and recently he has been
named a Fellow of Phi Beta Delta, the Honor Society for International Scholars.
Jessica Lee Rehman
Jessica Lee Rehman earned a master’s degree in religious studies at California State University,
Long Beach and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Riverside in
the Religious Studies Department. Her research areas include comparative Muslim societies,
Islam in South Asia, gendered religious violence, genocide, and transnationalism. She has presented at multiple conferences providing research in Yemeni women’s activism and Islamism,
female imagery in Muslim and Jewish texts, and women freedom fighters in Bangladesh. Her
current research project explores theoretical conceptions of sexual violence, religious terrorism,
and genocide, focusing on the intersections of these different forms of violence.
Mustafa Sahin
Dr. Şahin is the Director of Academic Affairs at the Atlantic Institute in Atlanta. He received his PhD in International Relations at Florida International University, Miami where
he specialized in the role of Islamic / social movements in politics. Previously as a Visiting
Assistant Professor at University of South Florida, he taught courses on the Middle East and
Developing Countries. In Atlanta, he teaches courses on Islam, Turkish-American Relations,
and the Middle East at Istanbul Center and Emory University Continuing Education. He
has published articles on Turkish Islamic movements, and spirituality, most recently a book
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
chapter entitled "Spirituality and Social Justice in Islam” forthcoming in Vincent J. Cornell
and Bruce Lawrence (eds) The Blackwell-Wiley Companion to Islamic Spirituality ( John
Wiley & Sons Inc, 2016).
Imani Michelle Scott
Dr. Imani Michelle Scott is a scholar, consultant, practitioner and specialist in the areas of
human communication, conflict analysis and conflict resolution. Her primary interests include
research, writing, presentations and activism in areas associated with relationship-building,
resilience studies, peace building, intimate partner violence, social justice, trauma management, and identity conflict. She is currently a Professor of Communication with the Savannah
College of Art and Design, a Principal Consultant for Relationship Building Associates and
a member of numerous civic and professional organizations. Dr. Scott holds a doctorate in
Conflict Analysis and Resolution from Nova Southeastern University,
She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors and has a distinguished record of scholarly publications and presentations, and she is the editor of and a contributing author to the
recently released book, Crimes against humanity in the Land of the Free: Can a Truth and
Reconciliation Process Heal Racial Conflict in America?
Renat Shaykhutdinov
Renat Shaykhutdinov is Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and the Director of the Peace Studies program at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). He came to FAU in
2007 from Texas A&M University where he received his PhD. He earned his BA degrees in
Political Science and International Relations, and Sociology from the University of Bosphorus
in Istanbul, Turkey. His teaching and research interests include comparative and international
politics, ethnic conflict, research methods, power-sharing arrangements, decentralization, and
the politics of the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe. Renat Shaykhutdinov is a native of the East European city of Kazan located in the Middle Volga Region and is
fluent in Tatar, Russian, and Turkish.
Ori Z. Soltes
Dr. Ori Z. Soltes teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director and Curator
of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum, where he curated over 80 exhibitions.
He is also the author of over 230 books, articles, exhibition catalogues, and essays on a range of
topics. Recent books include Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art Draw
from the Same Source, Searching for Oneness: Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam,
23
Untangling the Web: A Thinking Person’s Guide to Why the Middle East is a Mess and Always has been, and Embracing the World: Fethullah Gulen’s Thought and Its Relationship to
Jalaluddin Rumi and Others.
Jason Tatlock
Jason Tatlock completed his PhD in Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan. His
research covers a variety of fields and eras from the prehistoric Mediterranean world to the
contemporary Middle East. Dr. Tatlock works in the areas of human rights awareness and
justice studies, publishing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He serves as the faculty advisor
for an Amnesty International student group at Armstrong State University, where he teaches
in the Department of History. In 2008 he co-founded the Armstrong Atlantic State University and Savannah State University Inaugural Student Conference on Global and Domestic
Human Rights Awareness. He is currently working with colleagues on the Initiative for Civic
Engagement at Armstrong, which is a program devoted to promoting responsible citizenship.
Dr. Tatlock is the chair of the Middle East Council of the University System of Georgia and
the editor of The Middle East: Its History and Culture (University Press of Maryland, 2012).
John A. Tures
Dr. John A. Tures has taught at LaGrange College since 2001 where he is a professor of political science. Before that, he worked for Evidence Based Research Inc. in the Washington
DC suburbs from 2000 to 2002, and taught at the University of Delaware from 1999 to 2000.
He received his Ph.D. in political science in 2000 from Florida State University in Tallahassee,
Florida. In 1994 he received his Master's Degree in International Studies from Marquette
University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and his Bachelor's Degree from Trinity University (in San
Antonio, Texas) in Communications and Political Science in 1992. Many of his scholarly articles concern international relations, the Middle East, race and politics, economics and conflict,
and public opinion. He is married to Elizabeth and they have two children, Valerie (almost
12) and Zach (age 7).
Adam Wells
Dr. Adam Wells is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Director of Foundations I at Emory
& Henry College. He received his Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Virginia (2012),
his M.A.R. in Biblical Studies from Yale Divinity School (2007), and his B.A. in Philosophy
(with honors) from Wake Forest University (2001). Dr. Wells' main scholarly interests are
the theological and philosophical traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. His current
work examines the kenosis hymn (Philippians 2: 5-11) as a foundation for theological and
philosophical reflection about the nature of creation and incarnation. He is also interested in
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Fostering Dialogues in Education, Ethics and Nonviolent Peacebuilding:
Global, Social and Religious Movements Today
theoretical issues surrounding interreligious dialog.
M. Sait Yavuz
M. Sait Yavuz received his B.A. degree in Political Science from Bilkent University, Ankara,
and M.A. in History from Stanford University. He is completing his PhD in History at the
University of Maryland, College Park. He is currently an adjunct faculty of history and religious studies at the University of Houston, where he serves as the President of the Gulen
Institute.
25
Academic Committee
Parvez Ahmed, University of North Florida
Scott Alexander, Catholic Theological Union
Abdullah Antepli, Duke University
Lawrence E. Carter, Morehouse College, Co-Chair
Gregory O. Hall, Morehouse College
James B. Hoesterey, Emory University
Akan Malici, Furman University
Han Park, University of Georgia
Richard Penaskovic, Auburn University, Co-Chair
Mustafa Sahin, The Atlantic Institute, Co-Chair
Ori Soltes, Georgetown University
Organizing Committee
Lawrence E. Carter, Morehouse College
Jennifer Gibbs, The Atlantic Institute
Gregory O. Hall, Morehouse College
Turan Kilic, The Atlantic Institute
Richard Penaskovic, Auburn University
Mustafa Sahin, The Atlantic Institute
Terry F. Walker Sr., Morehouse College
Notes
Notes
Notes
Notes
Notes
The Atlantic Institute
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Atlanta, GA 30309
Phone: (404)-254-4884
Martin Luther King Jr. International
Chapel at Morehouse College
830 Westview Drive, S.W.
Atlanta, GA 30314
Tel: (404) 215 – 2608
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